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Registration opens for Convocation tickets
Registration is now open for the upcoming spring Convocation's ticketing system. Degrees and diplomas will be conferred across a total of 14 ceremonies in June 2022, and the ceremonies are being held in person for the first time since October 2019.
Graduands can reserve two guest tickets. All guests must be registered by June 5 to attend the in-person ceremony. For those who would like more than two guest tickets, they will have the option to join a waitlist. Should additional tickets be available they will be notified following the June 5 deadline.
Registration in advance is a must.
Graduands are automatically registered for their convocation ceremony when they register their guests. Graduands who do not require any guest tickets are asked to email convocation@uwaterloo.ca to register to attend. Graduands must register by June 5 to ensure that you receive your diploma at the ceremony.
Do not register using this system if you or your guests require accessible seating. Please email convocation@uwaterloo.ca to make appropriate arrangements.
Ceremonies will be livestreamed and available to watch on the convocation website.
Educating for Impact
By Beth Bohnert. This article was originally published on Waterloo News.
Michael Steele (BASc ’81) knows first-hand how the influence of an individual or event can change the course of a career — or even a life. His parents set an example that shaped Michael’s values. Those values, along with relationships with key business figures, helped determine his career path and led to business success.
Now, Michael and his spouse Stacey are giving the University of Waterloo students the chance to find their own life-changing opportunities and relationships. Through two awards inspired by Waterloo’s former president Feridun Hamdullahpur, The Steele Family Foundation will help to eliminate financial barriers to varsity sport and nonprofit work. These experiences will in turn prepare them to thrive as competitors and community builders.
Turning hardship to hope
“I remember my father telling stories about his upbringing in the 1920s. He had a pretty harsh life,” Michael said. Thomas Steele grew up in poverty in London’s East End. He joined the British Marines at age 17 after a series of personal tragedies and was wounded in combat. While recuperating in a Calcutta hospital, he met Mother Teresa; the impact of her work with the people she called “the poorest of the poor” stayed with him for the rest of his life.
“My parents taught us to be independent and to appreciate the things we had,” Michael said. Years later, these deeply ingrained values sparked a philanthropic mission: “How can we put together all of our learning experiences and blessings and create a better life for the less fortunate?”
In 2007, Michael, his mother, father and aunt formed The Steele Family Foundation to offer disadvantaged people education, basic humanitarian services, and community support on a grassroots level.
As part of the Foundation’s focus on supporting educational causes, Stacey created the WISE Scholarship Program™ to help students abroad attain post-secondary education while giving back to their current schools and communities.
“We are strong believers that education leads to opportunity,” Stacey says.
The Foundation’s support will now also benefit Waterloo students.
Finding direction through co-op
“The biggest challenge all young developing minds have is determining what direction they should take their energy and hidden talents,” Michael says. As a civil engineering student, Waterloo’s co-op program played a pivotal role in helping him find his career direction.
In his third co-op term, Michael was working at John Labatt Limited when Brascan, a division of the Bronfman business empire, purchased the holding company. During his term, he met business leaders at both companies and later went on to work for the Bronfmans.
Stacey and Michael know the positive impact of meeting people of influence at a young and impressionable age. Michael’s exposure to these leaders prompted him to use his engineering skills in business development and led to a highly successful career in sectors ranging from mining to food processing to real estate.
Supporting nonprofits, building careers
To provide Waterloo students with equally meaningful co-op experiences — while also addressing key societal issues — The Steele Family Foundation has established the Feridun Hamdullahpur Change Makers in Co-op program through a $200,000 gift. The program will fund co-op positions at nonprofit organizations.
“Many students are interested in exploring roles in the charitable sector, where they feel they can build new skills and a sense of purpose while making a positive impact on their communities. However, non-profits often struggle to afford talent,” says Norah McRae, Associate Provost, Co-operative and Experiential Education.
“Through the generosity of The Steele Family Foundation, students have new opportunities to both develop and apply their skills in a nonprofit setting, and these agencies will benefit from their talents. We are grateful to Stacey and Michael for their investment as we prepare the next generation of leaders in the non-profit sector.”
Preparing leaders through sport
The Steele Family Foundation has also made a $50,000 gift to endow the Catherine and Feridun Hamdullahpur Athletic Excellence Awards. As a formal student at Waterloo, Michael competed on the varsity track and field team. Stacey and Michael hope that these awards will ease the financial burden faced by top student-athletes on women’s varsity teams and allow them to focus on their game. By encouraging these individuals to pursue their passion for sport, these awards will help prepare them for leadership roles, while setting an example for future athletes.
“Gender equity, varsity sports and student development are causes that are dear to Catherine and me," says Feridun Hamdullahpur, Waterloo's sixth president. "We are immensely touched by Stacey and Michael’s efforts to help future Warriors share their talents, leadership skills and ideas to create a better world.”
Inspiring an investment in students
Just as Thomas Steele’s stories shaped Michael’s values, and meeting the Bronfmans changed the trajectory of his career, these gifts are the result of another relationship.
When Stacey and Michael met Feridun Hamdullahpur several years ago, they were inspired by Feridun’s dedication to helping students reach their full potential.
“Feridun’s personal commitment to making change for Waterloo students interested us. We wanted to keep working strategically with him, and people like him, who are true influencers,” Michael says.
“Through these gifts,” Stacey adds, “we hope to help as many students as possible take steps towards social change, and acquire the skills they need to move forward with their dreams.”
Some facts about the Environment I building
Photograph courtesy of Special Collections & Archives.
A message from the Faculty of Environment.
In recognition of the antisemitic actions of an influential geographer after whom a building was named at University of Waterloo, Isaiah Bowman, we have removed a commemorative photo and plaque that remained on display until this year. We apologize that the materials remained on display for so many years. The University had previously dropped any affiliations with the name Isaiah Bowman in 2008.
The Faculty of Environment currently occupies three buildings—Environment 1, 2 and 3. The oldest of these, Environment 1 (EV1), was built in 1966 before the Faculty of Environment (and its predecessors the Faculty of Environmental Studies and the Division of Environmental Studies) existed. This building, originally known as Arts II, was dedicated in 1967 to Isaiah Bowman, a native of Waterloo County, who moved to Michigan when he was a baby, studied geography at Harvard and Yale, was an instructor at Yale, and became president of Johns Hopkins University in 1935. Bowman also served as an advisor to the U.S. government in relation to World War I and II.
From 1967 to 2008, the building bore the name Isaiah Bowman Building. Despite this, from the 1970s onward, most correspondence and signage simply referred to the building as “Environmental Studies”—the name of the Faculty. In 2008, the building was renamed Environment 1.
A plaque and photo of Bowman remained in a corridor in EV1 until 2022. The Faculty of Environment discussed the issue of Bowman’s antisemitism and removing the materials as part of their 50th anniversary year in 2019. Regrettably, the pandemic slowed progress on removal and the issue was overlooked until this year. Recently, the Department of Geography and Environmental Management made a request to the Office of the Dean of the Faculty of Environment to remove the materials, and, after discussion with the Faculty’s leadership team on the morning of April 14, Dean Andrey ordered its permanent removal.
The Faculty of Environment shares this information in the interest of transparency and we reaffirm the University of Waterloo’s commitment to address systemic racism in all its forms.
WatITis conference issues call for proposals
A message from the WatITis conference organizers.
We are pleased to announce the annual WatITis conference will be held on Wednesday, December 7, 2022. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about University of Waterloo systems and technology. Don't miss it.
This year our keynote speakers will follow the theme of ‘IT Sustainability’ and as such, we welcome general systems and technology speaker proposals in addition to speaker proposals related to the topic of sustainability. We encourage and invite all staff members at UWaterloo to actively participate as a speaker, panel participant, or poster presenter. This conference is made for you, by you.
Interesting in being a presenter?
Submit a proposal as we would love to hear from you. Proposals should:
- have a a 500-word limit;
- Indicate your desired session length (20 minutes or 45 minutes); and
- Indicate the technical content
- 100 – low or non-technical content
- 200 – some technical content
- 300 - technical content
Interested in presenting a 3x3 poster?
Contact Melissa Blewitt (melissa.blewitt@uwaterloo.ca) or Traci Dow (tracielizabeth.dow@uwaterloo.ca) for more information and to see examples from previous conference years.
You may be asked to attend a brief speaker meeting prior to the conference to discuss presentation materials, expectations, and logistics.
For the format of the WatITis conference this year, we will continue to follow public health and internal guidelines set by the University.
Submission deadline
Please submit a brief synopsis of your topic or idea for presentations, panels, or posters by Wednesday, June 8, 2022.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please contact Nathan Lee (n4lee@uwaterloo.ca), Ryan Goggin (ryan.goggin@uwaterloo.ca) or Pavol Chvala (pavol.chvala@uwaterloo.ca).
To learn more about WatITis, please visit: uwaterloo.ca/watitis.
Thank you and we look forward to your participation.
Red Dress Day ceremony tomorrow and other notes
A ceremony marking Red Dress Day will take place tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. on the BMH Green according to information from the Faculty of Health. "Join Elder Myeengun Henry to honour and remember our missing and murdered sisters and to show solidarity with their family and loved ones," says a note from event organizers.
Red Dress Day marks the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirited people in Canada. The REDress project was created by Indigenous artist Jamie Black in 2010.
Are fees killing your finances? An alumnus gives her expert opinion. "In recent years, financial fees have acquired a negative reputation," says a note from the Office of Advancement. "Financial influencers, robo-advisors and do-it-yourself platforms encourage us to believe that higher fees will always eat into our returns, leaving us with significantly less wealth in the end. But is that really true? In the latest episode of Alumni Know, alumnus and award-winning financial advisor Alexandra Horwood (BA ’10) shares the truth behind fees, and advice on how to find the right services to grow your wealth."
Employers hosting Virtual Employer Information Sessions (VEIS) in the next two weeks include: Cover, Chantiers Jeunesse, IKOS Consulting, Connor, Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd, Red Canari, Geotab, Milliman, SPS Commerce, Capital One, Splunk, Snapcommerce, Bloomberg, FDM Group, Datadog, Desjardins General Insurance Group, and Genesys. Make sure to register WaterlooWorks and check the calendar for any updates.